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By BETH ABBIT - Thurs July 14, 2022
Hello,
Hospitals are overheating and paramedics feel overwhelmed. And as temperatures rise, ambulance staff say emergency calls are at ‘New Year’s Eve’ levels on a daily basis.
But when questioned over the impact of the heatwave on NHS services in Greater Manchester this week, one government minister said there is no ‘magical way of avoiding such pressures’.
We'll be discussing the situation in our NHS, as well as the rising Covid death toll and Manchester's most expensive road, in today's newsletter.
‘The sky is falling in’
As patients struggle with heat-related illnesses, the North West Ambulance Service has reached the highest alert level, meaning there's ‘potential for failures' as services cope with 'extreme pressure'.
One paramedic said they arrived at work this week to face 153 patients waiting for an ambulance. They said the numbers of 999 callers are at ‘New Year’s Eve’ levels on a daily basis.
“There’s 153 jobs stacking at the moment - that's just in Greater Manchester. That’s 153 people who've called 999 and there are no ambulances available for them,” a paramedic told health reporter Helena Vesty. “If you'd have asked me three years ago, four years ago, 150 people waiting would be New Year's Eve. Everybody's working. The sky is falling.”
NWAS say extreme weather often results in a surge of activity. “Even though we are seeing some cloud, and even some spots of rain in some areas, the temperature is still high which can often cause problems for those with respiratory or cardiac conditions.”
Meanwhile, figures from the Reach data unit show that NHS trusts covering Greater Manchester deal with hundreds of overheating incidents each year.
In 2020/21, there were 1,174 occasions where temperatures in wards or other clinical areas rose above 26C - the highest number in at least five years according to NHS Digital.
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust says it has installed portable air-conditioning units and hydration stations. Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Trust say incidents are recorded by area, which increases the figures.
Greater Manchester’s hospitals have not declared critical incidents in response to the rising temperatures. But bosses say long spells of hot weather can have ‘a significant impact’ on emergency services.
Over the last week, A&E departments at the Royal Bolton and Stepping Hill have admitted they're extremely busy with long queues of ambulances outside the Stockport hospital at one point.
Helena has spoken to medics and paramedics who say they were already struggling with understaffing before the pandemic. “Now, post-lockdown, everyone who had a health problem, and understandably was put off from seeking help during the peak of the pandemic, is coming forward,” she says.
“Because they've waited, their acuity is worse, so they're more likely to need emergency care from an ambulance, in A&E or in a ward bed. So you've got more people than ever asking for the NHS' help, more serious than ever, but there's not been any real difference in the number of staff working in the service to deal with all that.”
Staff sickness is adding pressures and bed occupancy is very high with the social care system struggling to support those fit to go home, Helena says. “There's a risk that patients who get released without the right care in place deteriorate and end up going back through the revolving door. So while hot weather might only contribute to a handful of cases at A&E or calls to 999, in this context, that could be enough to cause a service meltdown - hence why we're seeing NWAS on high alert, and huge waiting times in A&Es.”
There are also serious concerns among NHS staff that the government hasn't understood the scale of the problem. Workers have told Helena that targets to tackle backlogs are unrealistic. “Many I've spoken to feel there is actually a way of resolving such pressures - through proper funding and staffing,” she says.
Speaking in the Commons this week, Rochdale MP Tony Lloyd said his constituency is ‘especially vulnerable’ as it lost its A&E years ago. He said: "It means that people are dependent on an ambulance service, which is not in crisis because of the heatwave, it's been in crisis now for some considerable time. We don't need blandishments, minister. Why does it take a crisis for you to come out to explain what has not yet happened?"
Health minister Maria Caulfied said the government has boosted the workforce with more 999 call handlers, given £150m extra funding to the ambulance service and invested £50m in NHS 111 capacity.
"There will be pressures on the ambulance service and our emergency services at times in the NHS," she said. "We saw that with Covid, we've got the heatwave this week, which will put pressure on and there will be pressures on it (in) winter. If opposition members think that there's some magical way of avoiding pressures, there isn't."
Weather, etc.
Friday: Cloudy changing to sunny intervals by early evening. 19C.
Pollen count: High.
Roads closed: Delph New Road, Dobcross, in both directions for roadworks between Wall Hill Road and Oldham Road until August 5. A57 Eccles New Road westbound closed for gas main work from Canterbury Gardens to Gilda Brook Road until July 8.
Today's Manc trivia question: In which fictional suburb is the soap opera Coronation Street set?
Answer at the bottom of the newsletter
Most expensive street in Greater Manchester
Stockport Road is the most expensive street in the country for driving fines, outside of London. A total of 5,258 penalty charge notices were issued there in a single year.
Stockport Road - which runs from the town centre through Levenshulme, Longsight and Ardwick - brought in £193,893 in fines over 12 months.
The highest number of driving fines (67,557) were issued for Browning Road in Newham, London, with £3.3 million collected.
The data was obtained by Confused.com through a Freedom of Information request for the 2020/21 financial year.
Drivers can be issued a PCN for reasons including parking offences, straying into bus lanes or blocking a yellow box junction.
Will he ever face ‘real justice’?
The elder brother of the Manchester Arena bomber has been convicted in his absence of failing to give evidence at the public inquiry into the attack.
Ismail Abedi, 28, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, refused to cooperate with the inquiry but was ordered by the chairman, Sir John Saunders, to attend to give evidence.
He was listed for trial at Manchester Magistrates’ Court today under the name Ishmale Ben Romdhan, but did not attend, as Paul Britton reports. Abedi was found guilty by District Judge Jack McGarva of failing without reasonable excuse to do something required by a Section 21 notice.
Abedi flew out of the UK in August last year and was due to give evidence to the inquiry in October. The court heard that he had previously said he did not want to answer the inquiry’s questions because he was concerned about risk of self-incrimination, had already been questioned by police, and was concerned for the safety of himself and his family. District Judge McGarva found he had no reasonable excuse not to attend.
Kim Harrison, of Slater and Gordon, who represents some of the victim’s families, said they remain 'gravely concerned' as to how Abedi was able to leave the country before giving evidence. "His leaving the country should never have happened and despite the conviction he is unlikely to face any real justice until he is apprehended, if at all. The families deserve to know the truth about what happened that night and the contempt Ismail Abedi has shown them is truly despicable.”
The same mistakes repeated
For the bereaved families who have lost loved ones to Covid, the grim milestone of the UK reaching 200,247 deaths must be difficult to hear.
In Greater Manchester, there have been 9,775 deaths registered where Covid was mentioned on the death certificate as the cause or contributing factor since the start of 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Sheila Lamb, 94, moved into a care home in March 2020 and died with Covid just weeks later. Her grandson Amos Waldman is calling for a public inquiry into the pandemic.
It is “just absolutely shocking to see that the same mistakes really have been repeated throughout, and so far the Government is completely unable to learn any lessons”, he told the PA news agency. “Initially, Patrick Vallance described in a select committee what a good result would be – 20,000 deaths. So, it’s just mind-blowing that we’ve exceeded that so much."
Manchester headlines
Arrests: Two more people have been arrested over messages sent to Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner. A 65-year-old man from Surrey and a 37-year-old man from Kent have been arrested on suspicion of malicious communications over an email sent to the Ashton-under-Lyne MP in May this year. Both men have been released under investigation, Greater Manchester Police said. The total number of people detained under Operation Octant - the investigation into abuse and threats aimed at the MP - is now eight.
Parcels: A wave of parcel burglaries is being reported from city centre apartment blocks, prompting residents, councillors, and the police to call on buildings to beef up security measures. Numerous residents say they have been affected by the issue. Some say parcels are stolen ‘within minutes’ of being left, while others say high-value items went missing during a spike in the criminal activity around Christmas. More here.
Cutting costs: A petrol station in Salford is offering customers some of the cheapest fuel prices in the country. The Limes Service Station, on Manchester Road in Walkden, has dropped its prices to 169.9p for unleaded and 185.9p for diesel. Co-director Hassan Mohammed has dipped into his savings to make it work. “We thought we’d like to do something for our community. We’ve been here for seven years now and we’ve always tried to support our community,” he said.
Going underground
During In the 1970s and 80s, Manchester's 'underground market' was at the heart of the city centre. Just off Market Street, it was a hotspot for top fashion and boasted shops like Roxy and Stolen From Ivor.
Worth a read
In an ancient Cheshire town where the pub is king, one family brewery is taking on the big boys. Beartown, which has opened a new taproom in Congleton, has big plans.
Ben Arnold has been speaking to co-owner Joe Manning, who says Beartown’s latest concoction is going to be a mainstay, ‘to challenge your Beavertowns, your Neck Oil, your Tiny Rebel’. Read the story here.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me, the next edition of the Mancunian Way will be with you around the same time tomorrow. If you have any stories you would like us to feature or look into, please contact me at beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk
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The answer to today’s trivia question, in which fictional suburb is the soap opera Coronation Street set, is Weatherfield.
